Readings From A Troubled History

February is Black History Month and children learn all sorts of difficult lessons about the ways African Americans have been treated in this country. Here are some powerful books that can round-out children’s understanding of our troubled history.

“The Wagon,” by Tony Johnston

This powerful book shows what slavery might have been like for one child. “One Carolina morning I was born. Everything was beautiful that day, Mama said, especially my skin like smooth, dark wood. But like all my family, birth to grave, my skin made me a slave.”

In words as lyrical as poetry, Johnston describes how the boy grows, hating his lack of freedom, constant work and beatings. He helps his father build a beautiful wagon of smooth dark wood for the master. Papa is in charge of the wagon. He and the boy sing “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” on trips for supplies. The wagon becomes a chariot in the boy’s dreams.

Far away a war is fought and one day the family is free. The master lets them have their wagon/chariot, and it carries them away. In a poignant ending, it will also carry them to the funeral of their hero, Abraham Lincoln.

Illustrator James E. Ransome’s paintings are simply gorgeous. In fact, Johnston said she was inspired to write the story by a painting of Ransome’s titled “Carolina Morning.” (Tambourine Books, ages 5 and up, 40 pgs., $16.)

“The Blue and the Gray,” by Eve Bunting

This is two stories in one. The first is modern; the friendship between two boys - one black, one white. One boy’s family is building a house next door to the other boy’s house. Both houses look out onto a field that long ago was a Civil War battlefield.

The second is the story of the Civil War, as told to the boys by the narrator’s father. This particular battlefield bears no historic marker, but the father asks the boys to always remember what happened there.

There’s lots of gentle irony and symbolism here. The battlefield will become a playfield. At the end, a blue and a gray bird fly into the sky together. And there’s poetic justice in the fact that the edges of the battlefield will be home to an interracial community.

Soft-focus, lovely oil paintings by Ned Bittinger complement the story. (Scholastic, ages 5 and up, 32 pgs., $14.95.)

“Minty: A Story of Young Harriet Tubman,” by Alan Schroeder

Here’s another fine volume that will help personalize slavery for young children. It will also spark their interest about one of the bravest women in American history.

While technically a fictional account of Tubman’s childhood, Schroeder built this story on facts. Tubman was known as a difficult slave and, as a child, was sent to work in the fields after proving herself too clumsy and too outspoken to work in the house.

The picture Schroeder paints is believable, based on what is known of Tubman as an adult. The child is given the duty of checking the muskrat traps in the river.

She gets a severe beating after the overseer catches her freeing the trapped creatures. As a young child she makes up her mind to escape slavery one day. Her father, believing she will, teaches her survival skills she will need.

This inspiring story is graced with the pencil and watercolor artwork of the much-honored Jerry Pinkney. Interestingly, Pinkney designed the first Harriet Tubman commemorative postage stamp in 1978. (Dial Books, ages 5 and up, 40 pgs., $16.99.)

“Satchmo”s Blues,” by Alan Schroeder

Another fine work by Schroeder provides a look at the childhood of Louis Armstrong. On hot Louisiana nights, young Louis would stand outside jazz clubs listening to the bands. His favorite musician was cornet player Bunk Johnson.

One day, Louis spots a brass cornet in a pawnshop window for $5. That was a huge sum for a poor child. But Louis did everything he could to earn the money. He sold rags and coal, ran errands, picked onions from the trash and, after cutting out the bad parts, sold them to restaurants. Meanwhile, he practiced playing an imaginary horn.

Floyd Cooper has created more lovely pastel illustrations. (Bantam Doubleday Dell, ages 5 and up, 32 pgs., $15.95.)

“Bill Pickett: Rodeo-Ridin’ Cowboy,” by Andrea D. Pinkney

Another African-American legendary figure is portrayed in this thrilling tale. Pickett’s family traveled to Texas in a wagon train, as slaves. After the Civil War, the Picketts worked their own land.

Bill, “quick as a jackrabbit, more wide-eyed than a hooty owl” was entranced by the cowboys driving thousands of longhorn steers past the farm. At 15, he left home to become a cowboy. He was on his way to becoming one of the most celebrated rodeo bulldoggers in the world. He even performed for the King and Queen of England.

Brian Pinkney provided marvelous scratchboard and oil illustrations for his wife’s well-written biography. (Harcourt Brace, ages 4 and up, 32 pgs., $16.)

“Nappy Hair,” by Carolivia Herron

As light-hearted as this picture book looks, it’s also a tribute to black history and tradition. Brenda’s hair is the curliest, wildest, nappiest hair in her whole family, perhaps the whole neighborhood. And her family loves to talk about it. Written in the style of the African-American call-and-response tradition, they describe their adorable Brenda’s hair:

“It’s like crunching through snow. Yep. About a foot, two feet at least. Uh-huh. With two inches of crust on the top. I can hear it. Y’all know how it sounds when you scrunching through snow like that? I can hear it. That’s what her hair sound like when she comb it out in the morning.”

The tale twists and turns like Brenda’s hair, all the way back to Africa, where another beautiful nappy-haired woman sat on a rock making plans that probably did not include traveling on a slave ship to America.

Joe Cepeda’s illustrations are a vibrant complement to a funny, touching family story. (Knopf, ages 4 and up, 32 pgs., $16.)